


Aftermath

by TrashLiege



Category: Persona 5
Genre: But Mostly Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, i might edit this more later but for now im gonna go sleep off this cold rip me, in this house we use akira kurusu for protags name, post-interrogation room, should be obvs but uhhh spoilers ahead, there's no way this boy was just fine and dandy after that shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-28 09:55:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16721145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrashLiege/pseuds/TrashLiege
Summary: He took a deep breath as he settled himself, already slipping on his mask of wellbeing. Time to play the part of a version of him that was considerably less hurt once again.





	Aftermath

Since he’d gotten back and the drugs had worn off all he had felt was pain. He’d been in agony beforehand but the drugs had managed to take the edge off in a way, not making it so he couldn’t feel the pain but more along the lines of making him not really care about it. Takemi’s medicine was helping but there was only so much it could do, anything that was effective enough had a high addiction chance and as he was meant to be, well, dead and unable to go to a hospital if things went wrong she had held off on giving him anything that held that risk for now.

Now he was awake the dull throbbing had started slipping back and getting dressed had jostled his injuries each time he moved sending spikes of agony as he went. Not wanting to worry his non-feline friend he had bit his lip in a weak attempt to keep his composure and hold in his gasps of pain but he knew it hadn’t worked completely. Particularly considering the concerned look that Morgana had spread across his face.

He was going to have to try hard later when the others all came over to just put a brave face on and ignore the way his body was screaming out for help. There was something there about "practise making perfect" but he tried to brush off that train of thought, he didn't particularly want to go down that train of thought, let alone right now when he would definitely be more effected by recalling those memories than most other times.

He took a deep breath as he settled himself, already slipping on his mask of wellbeing. Time to play the part of a version of him that was considerably less hurt once again.

_You're already used to that after all._

Oh. It had been a while since he'd heard that voice rattling around in his head, since before he had awoken to Arsene. Well, he could still hear Arsene so it wasn't too great of a concern but it was a concern nonetheless as it probably meant he was slipping back into his old ways a little. Not surprising really, what had happened in that room had really thrown him back to that _other one_.

“Akira?” Morgana calling his name, thankfully, pulled him from his thoughts. A relief considering what he had come so close to reliving.

“Hmm?” He turned slightly to face Morgana, indicating for him to continue and ask whatever it is he so clearly wanted to. His mask was still on, right?

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Morgana asked, worry clear on his face even in his cat form. Akira frowned as he thought it over. Even though he had been expecting the question at some point he still wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that. Physically? No, not really, at least not at the moment. Mentally? Probably not but either way only time would tell and he didn’t have the time to dwell on it at the moment. They still had so much to do.

“I’ll be okay.” He settled on, he wasn’t going to worry his friends after all. Especially not at such an important phase of their plan. They all needed to be able to continue. Even if he didn’t feel like he was sure he could right now. Rest and recovery could come later.

Morgana looked like he wanted to say something but decided against it, instead settling for a slight worried look and an “If you’re sure...” that sounded like he definitely didn’t believe him. "Remember you can always to to me, or any of the others, though! We're all here for you leader!" he continued as he jumped down to the floor and gave him a stern look. Akira could swear that sometimes Morgana could read his mind with the stuff he came out with. Or was it just that obvious that Akira didn't want to burden his friends when they'd all already been through enough without having to pick up their broken leader?

"Hey, you up yet kid?" he heard Sojiro's voice call out as he walked into the room, the soft creak of the floorboards beneath him letting him know when exactly he got to his room without him having to look up until that moment.

"They're all here. Are you sure you wanna do this today though, kid? They won't begrudge you taking some recovery time you know." Sojiro raised a hand to rub the back of his head, his tone more worried than anything else. 

Akira shook his head a little and Sojiro sighed. He already knew how stubborn the kid was so he hadn't expected any other answer but he still felt like he should make the kid get some more rest first.

"Fine. But you get tired or start hurting more you're coming straight back here okay? I don't wanna get it in from Takemi because you wouldn't look after yourself 'cause your friends were over." It was a rather weak ultimatum but it would have to do. Those kids were all worried about him and he knew that was why Akira was doing this. That and whatever that grand plan they had cooked up was.

"Right." Akira nodded a little. He'd probably ignore that unless to got too bad, they had so much to get done.

Another sigh from Sojiro. "Right well I'm gonna head down and let them know you're on your way. Just take it easy alright, you've scared us all enough as it is." he said, heading down before Akira even had a chance to respond and leaving him wondering if that was what having a parent was meant to be like...

Pushing those thoughts aside, they could be dealt with later, he stood up, taking a moment to adjust as his vision swum and pain flared from his leg. Then, once that had calmed enough he turned to Morgana. "Let's get going." he said, his voice as neutral as he could make it. He was met by a quick nod from his companion who started heading down before him. He didn't take any pride in it but now it was time to trick them all into thinking their leader was perfectly fine. A grim thought settled in his mind. It was like a play, and a terrible one at that. Time to step into his role then, he supposed, tightening his mask of wellbeing on his way. He started to follow Morgana down the stairs to where his friends were congregating, their voices louder with every step he took.

 _It's showtime_.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm ill af so if anything is iffy i am 100% blaming it on that rn.
> 
> Also I might do a follow up to this where pt and coffee dad give our boy some love but at the moment I'm still umming and ahhing about that.


End file.
